Perforated music-sheet.



J. HEYL.

PERFORATED MUSIC SHEET.

APPLICATION FILED APE-l4. 1913.

I 1,1 59,670. Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

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M JUaLGAQZIf/T by a? ATTORNEYS,

COLUMBIA PLANOGIIAPH 0.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

.l. -HEYL.

PERFORATED MUSIC SHEET.

APPLICATION FILED APRKH. 1913.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

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PERFORATED MUSIC-SHEET.

Application filed April 14. 1913.

Z 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Jaoon HnYL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Perforated Music-Sheets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the perforated music sheets used in connection with player pianos and other automatic musical instruments.

As is well known, in playing a musical composition by hand upon the piano, the intelligent performer does not play the accompaniment notes as loud as the melody, but subdues them more or less in order to subordinate the accompaniment to the melody. To produce this result in player pianos or similar instruments, the wind chest has been divided into independent sections, one forthe bass andthe other for the treble, and the instrument has been provided either with manual or automatic controlling means for diminishing the air tension in the accompaniment section in order to subdue the corresponding tones.

The object of my invention is the production of a music sheet which shall automatically subdue the notes of the accompaniment and which can be manufactured at practically no greater cost than an ordinary music sheet, thus dispensing with separate mechanical appliances for this purpose and rendering the instrument more convenient and satisfactory to the performer.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of afragment of a music sheet embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic transverse vertical section of parts of the piano action and the pneumatic action of a player piano controlled by the improved music sheet, showing the approximate position of the parts when a bridge of an accompaniment-perforation passes over the tracker.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both views.

1 indicates the piano-strings, 2 the corresponding piano hammer, 3 the damper and i the jack, which parts may be of any ordinary construction.

5 indicates the wind chest and 6 the striker pneumatic which operates the hammer 2. This pneumatic is connected by a passage '7 with a valve chamber 8 which communicates with the atmosphere by a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915. Serial No. 760,900.

vent port 9 and with the suction chamber lOcf the wind chest by a port 11, these ports being controlled by the customary double headed valve 12 the stem of which rests upon the diaphragm 13. The chamber l-t underneath this diaphragm is connected by the usual passage 15 and tube 16 with one of the ducts 17 of the tracker or board 18.

19 indicates the music or note sheet which may be constructed of paper or other suitable material. This sheet is cut with two sets or groups of slots or perforations 20 and 21, one set for producing the notes of the melody and the other the notes of the accompaniment. The various perforations 20 representing the melody are continuous or unbroken from end to end and they are of different lengths and differently spaced according to the duration of the successive notes and their intervals, as in ordinary music sheets, these perforations cooperating with corresponding ducts of the tracker and producing the same efiect as the perforations of such ordinary sheets. Each of the other set of perforations 21 representing the accompaniment of the composition is broken or interrupted by a series of narrow transverse webs or bridges 22 which divide the perforation into a series of holes a, 6, c, &c., which together constitute the complete perforation. 'ihese interrupted perforations are likewise cut of different lengths and differently spaced to correspond to the successive notes of the accompaniment and heir intervals.

Each of the bridges 22 is narrower than the length of the corresponding tracker duct measured crosswise of the tracker, in order to produce a single continuous tone by the passage of the interrupted perforation over the tracker. However, these bridged perforations, while each producing such a continuous sound, soften or subdue the same below the sounds produced by the unbroken perforations 2 representing the melody of the composition, the music sheet itself thus automatically subduing the accompaniment, bringing out the melody in the same artistic manner as when the composition is performed manually by a skilled musician, this being accomplished without the necessity of providing the instrument with separate means of any kind for this purpose.

Very satisfactory results have been obtained with tracker ducts about sixty-two one-thousandths (.062) of an inch in length measured crosswise of the tracker, and interrupted perforations composed of holes each about ninety-four one-thousandths (.0941) of an inch in length and separated by bridges each about thirty-nine one-thousandths (.039) of an inch in width. To obtain the best results, the holes forming these bridges should be cut as nearly square as practicable in order to render the sides of the bridges parallel or nearly so. The subduing action of the bridged accompaniment perforations will be understood by reference to Fig. 2. When the first or leading hole a of such a perforation comes into register with its companion tracker-duct, the striker pneumatic 6 is collapsed in the manner common to such pneumatic actions, causing the hammer 2 to strike the string and sound the same and the damper 3 to recede from the string. But instantly after this action takes place the first bridge 22 of said perforation passes over said tracker duct and partly closes it, as shown in Fig. 2, allowing the elevated diaphragm 13 to descend partway but not fully, because the duct is not completely covered. The valve 12 therefore descends to a correspondingly limited extent, as shown in said figure, thereby partly opening the vent port 9 and partly inflating the striker pneumatic, but not to a suflicient extent to allow the damper to bear against the vibrating string and wholly dampen it ,yet, the damper is permitted to approach the 7 string so closely as'to reduce the amplitude of its vibrations and thus subdue or soften the tone. 7 Owing to said incomplete inflation of the pneumatic, the jack a of the piano action is not allowed to return fully to its initial or operative position, but is held in such a position relative to the hammer butt as to be inoperative, as shown in Fig. 2. It follows that when the second hole 6 of said accompaniment perforation registers Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing a Washington, D. 0.

with the tracker duct, the striker pneumatic,

no greater than that of an ordinary music sheet. 7

I claim as my invention:

1. A perforated music sheet having two groups of perforations, one representing the melody and the other the accompaniment 2 notes of a composition, said melody perforations being uninterrupted and said accompaniment perforations being interruptedby transverse brldges, each narrower than the length of the corresponding tracker-duct i.

measured crosswise of the tracker, whereby the notes of the accompaniment group are automatically subdued.

2. A perforated music sheet having two groups of perforations, one representing the melody and the other the accompaniment notes of a composition, said melody perforations being uninterrupted and said accompaniment perforations consisting of holes each about ninety-four one-thousandths (.094) of an inch in length and separated by bridges each about thirty nine one thousandths (.039) ofan inch in width.

Witness my hand this 10th day of'April,

JACOB HEYL. Witnesses:

C. F. GEYER, E. M. GRAHAM.

the Commissioner of Patents, 

